The Decimation
by Wolfoenix
Summary: "They all are gone. Reduced to dust." And tears streamed down his face, he broke into deep sobs which rattled his body. Harry vowed to avenge his friends' death. Thanos' snap removes wizatd population from the face of earth, except one.
1. Prologue

Harry! Harry! Harry! "The audience is as excited as ever, The Harry Potter has entered the field after ten whole years. This has been the most awaited Quidditch match in a long time, when Harry Potter comes out of his retirement to return to the field. Well, not technically, he's a guest player but please try to understand my emotions, bei- Wohoo! Finnigan has made the first goal of the match and the Puddlemore United have managed to snatch the Quaffle."

It was the last match of the United Kingdom Wizards Quidditch league. Harry Potter was playing Quidditch publicly after a long interval of ten years. He had quit playing Quidditch and rejoined the aurors after he was severely injured in a game while Ginny was pregnant and he could not bear their pain if something happened to him.

The audience was chanting his name. The boy-who-lived had returned to field after so many years and everyone knew that the game was going to be interesting.

"Ginny Potter! Mr.Potter's wife, is also sitting in the stands, with his only daughter, Lily, named after her grandmother. And with this goal, Puddlemore has scored 60 points against Harpies' 50. Aaand, It looks like Potter has seen the snitch and is chasing after it with Malfoy in tow. Its a close match and Potter snatches the sni-"

And everything changed forever. Harry clutched the snitch in his hand while everyone on the stadium disappeard before his eyes, as he watched helplessly and in a matter of seconds, the stadium was empty, like nothing had happened.


	2. Bring them back

**A/N- Thanks everyone for the overwhelming support you have shown towards me and it is your kindness which motivated me to write. This chapter came a bit early but please don't expect each chapter to be so. Real life can cause a headache anytime. But till then, I woukd try to do my best to update as much as possible. Read the first chapter of of the fic and do not hesitate to point out any mistakes in the comments or PM me with them.**

* * *

"Ginny! Gin! Lils! Lily! Ginny! Ron! 'mione! Where are you all? Don't play with me! This is not funny!" Indeed, it was not funny at all. Harry continued to shout at the top of his lungs for a long time, but to no avail. No one answered him. Just plain emptiness. Pin drop silence. Compared to the racket that was happening a few minutes ago, everything was so quiet. Only his shouts and the rustling of trees, as strong winds blowed. It seemed as if the winds were trying to convey a message, which they wanted everyone to hear. A warning of doom.

He couldn't understand what had happened, one moment everyone was cheering and shouting, there was merriness all around, and the next, they had disappeared in a swirl of dust. In their places, nothing was left except ashes. He had investigated a lot of quirky situations throughout his illustrous career as an auror. Nearly all the hardest of cases were given to him, he was the boy-who-lived after all. But he had never encountered anything like this. Something so unexplained, so mysterious. What could be so powerful so as to end the existence of a large number of powerful wizards and witches, without a single person sensing anything.

But these were not the thoughts which were going through his mind. It was his family. Ginny, Lily, Ron, Hermione, Hugo, all were gone. In front of his eyes. And he couldn't do anything but helplessly witness everything. It was department of mysteries all over again, when he could not save Sirius. He felt like a failure. The unending hatred, which he had failed to feel for Bellatrix at the time, which caused his Crucio to fail, was gripping at his heart and mind. He would not rest until he had avenged each and every life lost today.

But he was the only person left. Why him? Why not someone else? Why not someone more capable? How would he find out what happened to everyone? Where were everyone else? What exactly happened to them? All these questions were eating away at his mind. _If Hermione was here, _and he started crying. It appeared so immature for a middle aged man, father of three children, to cry but he had lost so many people in an instant that he could not control himself. Combined with his previous losses and this, he couldn't muster the courage to live but he had to. For Albus and James. For Revenge. Whoever did it would pay with nothing less than his life.

Determined to know to what exactly happened, Harry apparated to Hogwarts gates. He needed to know that his other children were fine at school. That nothing had happened to them. That no harm had come to them. McGonagall would most probaby know what happened. The gates opened themselves, sensing his presence and adhering to his demand to allow him to enter the school. He still felt the childish fascination that he felt the first time when he saw Diagon Alley, when he saw things like this.

When he entered through the gates of the great hall, there was no one inside. And it was lunch time. He ran to the Gryffindor tower, breaking down the portrait entrance, he entered the boys dormitory and found it empty.

He panicked. Running to the Headmaster's office, he blasted away the gryffin guard when it wouldn't allow him to enter without the password. He honestly felt bad for vandalising such an old and important artifact but in his panic stricken state, he simply did not care for anything other than his children. The office was empty, adorned with the portraits of the ever snoozing headmasters and headmistresses.

The implication of it all hit him like a ton of bricks. They were gone. All of them. He had lost everyone in a matter of seconds.

* * *

They were gone. All of them. She had lost everyone in a matter of seconds. Nick, Stephan, Peter, everyone who helped them. She had finally got a chance to have a family and it had been cruelly snatched away from her hands. Those who had given her a whole new life were gone.

Thanos would pay. He would pay dearly and she would make sure of it. But she needed to bring them back. She needed them back to survive. She was in the practice room in the Avengers headquarters, shooting at the smallest targets. She knew that she was 0hysically incapable of defeating Thanos, whether she had a gun, a hammer, or a large cruise missile, nothing she could do would matter. But she was not a master spy for nothing. The very least she could do was create the circumstanes which can lead to Thanos' defeat.

She felt Steve enter. His soft footsteps were quite disinctive and she got used to them when on run with him.

"Nat."

She did not answer. She knew what he was going to say. It was not at all useful to them. Her holing herself up in a room. But she could not help it. With everyone gone and Clint retired, she felt she had absolutely no one she was comfortable with, except, maybe Steve himself.

"It is not doing us any good Natasha. Nor you. Please come ou-"

He was interrupted all of a sudden as the loud noise of a space jet filled the enviornment and she ran outside, Steve in tow. A young girl, well, not so young, maybe her own age, was landing with a jet held in her hands. She opened her mouth to speak something, but it hung open when a very weak Tony Stark and a distressed Nebula stepped out of the jet.

Tears of joy filled her eyes. Two people more. She had a chance at building her family once again. Tony, supported by Nebula reached where Steve was standing and hugged him. Pepoer came out of the buliding, as she heard rukus. When she saw Tony, she ran, and hugged him so tightly that it looked like she would never let him go. Tony began crying, quite uncharacteristic of him but it must have been rather distressing to be left dying in the space after being beat up by a mad titan. As soon as Tony, tried to move away from her, without any support, he fell down and fainted.

Rushed to the Avengers Compound, he was treated by Bruce for an hour but she was relieved when he disclosed that it was nothing but lack of oxygen and dehydration, which had caused weakness and caused him to faint. She was not going to lose her family again.

* * *

Two Days. Just two days and a variety of beasts from the forbidden forest had come out and into the open on the Hogwarts grounds. Centaurs, Acromantulas, Nundus, Sphinxes and a lot of other beasts wree roaming freely. Completely unafraid of the lone wizard which had been living in the castle for a couple of days. Without an army, the man would not dare confront them. And no other human was left in the castle. They somehow knew that.

Harry had been delving into the ancient tomes of the Hogwarts library to find _something _that would explain what had happened. Something that would explain the disappearence of the whole wizarding community. He had tried to contact foreign wizards, as he already knew no witch or wizard was left on the British isles, but he had recieved no reply. A tell-tale sign that something had happened to them as well.

The Hogwarts library was huge, and he was just one person. It was neaarly impossible to even skim through all the books in a short time, even if he did not read a single page completely. In his school days, he had never had time to admire the knowledge which the ancient library contained, as he was always off on some sort of adventure. But now that he had all the time in the world, since there was no other wizard to create any adventures, he was not interested.

But something more distressing happened before he could find anything. A large group of acromantulas had managed to climb up the castle walls and were trying to enter the library through the large window. A second later, the glasses on the windows were broken and the mindless spiders were descending upon Harry. He almost wanted to give up. He had nothing to live for. What good would it do to stay alive? Death was welcome at this point.

Death!

Death!

Deathly Hallows!

What the f*ck? All ideas came when his life was in jeopardy. He whipped his wand and fired an incedio on the spider nearest to him and it burned to ash. But it was not possible to fire spells at such a fast rate. The spuders were quick and agile and many of them ducked when confronted with fire. But at the en, he managed to round up all of them and get the hell out of the library to get the hallows. But before, he took the imergency cupboard and filled it with all the books in the library, as the cupboard was larger on inside than outside, and shrunk down the wooden almirah to keep it in his robe pocket.

He had just stepped out of the library, when something latched on to his shirt from the back. Harry cursed. How could he fail to notice that one of those beasts were alive. His reaction wasn't quick enough and the giant spider had given him a huge gash on his back. But the animal was controlled fairly quickly as it was a small one and was set on fire, like its other kin.

He would also have to protect the castle. Harry was not an expert ward maker but aurors were trained to make decent wards. No one will enter the castle without his permission from now. But why didn't the ancient wards of the castle work? He went to the top of the Headmaster's tower, where the wardstones were fixed and found one of them lying on the floor instead of their designated spot. A book from a shelf had fallen on the stone. He gently lifted the gem in his hands and put it back on its designated corner. The wards were back.

* * *

Tony was fine. But the team was not. Steve and Tony were back to square one. All the unspoken understanding that they had reached a month ago was gone and they were again squabbling like eight year olds.

"I told you that we should make a shield around the planet, but no, Captain America cannot leave aside his ideal for a while, even if it is to save the world. Keep it up, Steve, keep helping in destruction of the world. You will be quite successful in the field."

"I accept Tony, I accept that I had a lapse of judgement but this is not the time for fighting among ourselves."

"Keep your wise talk to yourself cap. We don't need old men wanting to be superheros in out team. We need young people like-", pointing to Danvers, who was standing a few feet away, "her."

"Take this. I don't need it. Take this." And he ripped out the arc reactor out of his chest. Tony fell on the ground and everyone rushed to help him. "I am fine. I am f-fine, I-I d-don't need you all." It was the second time in the day that Natasha was worried about losing him, and Bruce had to check him again. This time, the injuries were serious and the arc reactor had to be fitted again. He was bed ridden for atleast a full day.

* * *

Another challenge popped up in front of Harry in search of deathly hallows. Well, the challenge was the same as in the library. Creatures. The wand was in Dumbledore's grave, on the grounds. The stone was in the forest, and tge cloak was in his home, where he could not apparate while on hogwarts grounds.

While he was safe in the castle, due to the strong wards, the same could not be said about the grounds. Ferocious beasts were prowling the grounds and they would not hesitate to make a snack out of him. There had to be a way to evade them. Acromantulas and other smaller beasts he could handle but Nundus, a hundred powerful wizards were needed to take on a Nundu. There was no safeguard to prevent the animals from coming on the grounds, only tge presence of humans stopped them till now.

The prospect of a large forest on the school premises was so cool when he was a student, but now, it seemed nothing but idiotic.

Gathering his Gryffindor courage, he stepped out of the great hall and onto the grounds. Walking slowly, careful not to make a noise, he stalked as fast as his feet would carry him, to the lakeshore, where Dumbledore's grave was situated. He felt bad doing it, but it was important, so he cast a powerful reducto and broke the perfect smooth marble into tiny splinters.

There it was, the elder wand. Harry hesitated for just a moment. He had given up the wand, it felt wrong to take it again. But no suck feeling was left when he finally, touched the death stick. A feeling of great power rushed through his veins. It felt like he was meant to use the wand. He firmly took hold if the intricate handle of the stick and put his original wand in his ankle wand hostler, safely as a backup.

It was the stone next. But it was going to be trickiest to get it. Mainly for two reasons, it was most probably at the edge of the forest, where he would most certainly encounter a creature and second, he did not know exactly where the stone was. He had just dropped it at the edge of the firbidden forest and then forgot about it.

Moving slowly, he kept encountering small harmless animals, but he had so far not encountered anything harmful. He used the elder wand after a long time-"Point me- Resurrection Stone" and the wand's tip moved towards far east, in the direction of the same field in which he had _died._ Before he could reach the field, as he had predicted, he was confronted with a _creature,_ he was not sure what it was. It looked remarkably like a little dragon, just over a dozen feet tall and about six feet wide. Its body was covered in blsck scales, spotted with red dots and its eyes were also a red colour. _Is every red-eyed creature in the world out to kill me? _The creature's teeth looked sharp and wicked and its tongue was hanging out of its mouth. It was sleeping peacefully over the ring, which was gleaming in sunlight, and he was not sure how he could get the ring.

_Well, a single accio should do. _And he did just that. "Accio Ressurection Stone." The ring flew to his hands and took a relieved breath. His relief was short lived. The beast had awoken, and, it was spewing _ice-cold water, _out of uts almost laughed at the irony. A creature, looking like a dragon, spews water. But wait, the water froze whatever it touched and Harry accidently stepped on one such log of wood. It shattered into a million fine pieces of ice.


	3. More Challenges

**A/N- Thanks everyone for you support, this is the second chapter of this fic. And as usual, please read and review and do not hesitate to point out any mistakes.**

* * *

Stepping on that single log of wood was a huge mistake. The sound of breaking ice seemed to agitate the creature, which he had come to think of as the _Ice Spewer_, more. And with the stone in his hands, Harry needed to be extra careful with the mess that his carelessness had created. He quickly kept the stone in a robe pocket as _Ice Spewer _charged at him, throwing a jet of water in his direction, he ducked to the side, falling upon yet another piece of frozen water. The creature took to using flight to aim at him. It looked majestic. With its wings stretched, he could see some beautiful patterns on them.

But it was not the time to admire the beauty of his opponent. _Incedio_ seemed to have become his very favourite spell as of late. So he just fired yet another overpowered fire spell on the creature but shockingly, the fire just bounced off its body.

_"Reducto." _Another spell that utterly failed to affect the beast in the remotest way and the overpowered Reductor Curse fell on the nearby ground, ripping out a large amount of dirt. _What the hell? _Indeed, it was nothing less than hell. Here he had lost _all _of his loved ones less than a couple of days ago, and since his luck liked to mess with him quite a lot, here he was, fighting a seemingly indestructible creature, when he should be just moping around some corner or better, trying to find what happened to them. Couldn't his luck allow his to do something important withput risking his life.

"Sectumsempra!" _That would definitely kill it._ But Alas! It didn't. There was not even a small scratch on the ferocious animal's body while Harry was quickly tiring out. The day's adventures had taken a toll on him. If he was frozen, some animal would most probably shatter him to small pieces and his plan to take revenge would always remain just that, a plan.

He was surrounded by a frozen patch of land. And he was not sure he wanted to agitate the beast any further. He had to melt the ice. Fire had proved to be of no use. He decided to use water. As soon as the frozen surface came in contact with the water coming out of the elder wand, it unfroze and the tall blades of grass were visible once again.

An idea formed in his head. If it worked, it would atleast distract the animal and give him enough time to escape out of the school's grounds and reach the gates, from where he could apparate.

"Aguamenti Maxima!" A large jet of water flew out of his wand and hit _Ice Spewer _in the face. And what happened next completely floored Harry.

The beast dispassiated in front of his eyes. It changed into a clear liquid and hit him in the chest, knocking him off his feet. And strangely, he was not wet at all. He lost conciousness a few minutes later.

Harry woke up just in time to save the stone from being lost again. Luckily, no dangerous creature had ventured near him since as much as he could feel, all his body parts were uneaten. Though no dangerous creatures were there, a niffler was trying to enter the robe pocket in which the stone was kept.

Harry felt a tingling feeling near his hip, and found that a niffler was gently trying to open his robe pocket, most probably attracted by the light emitted by the resurrection stone. He swatted away the creature but in the process, since the niffler was clutching at his pocket with its sharp little claws, the pocket was torn and the gem fell to the ground. A fight ensued between Harry and the nifflers to obtain the shiny object, which was obviously won by Harry. He was powerful like that.

As he tried to walk, his legs gave out and Harry fell to his kness. He was too worn out from the hectic day to even walk properly. Ginny always said that he had grown old. And just thinking about his beloved had his eyes prickling with unshed tears.

_Harry tried to lift a large log of wood, which he had cut off from a huge tree. It was Christmas and this year, it was their house where the customary Weasley-Potter-Lupin gathering had to take place. Everyone in their family attended the gathering, Bill from Egypt, Charlie from Romania, Fred, Ron, He and Ginny, Percy, Zndromeda and Teddy, everyone who carried Weasley, Potter or Lupin as a surname._

_Ginny was standing a few feet away when the log slipped from his hands and was about to fall, when Ginny used an 'arresto momentum' to slow down the fall and then leviated it. Meanwhile, Harry had also fallen down into the dirt._

_"What woman, you do not ever care that you hardworking husband fell? You care more about a piece of wood!" Harry accused jokingly ._

_"Well, the husband should not have attempted to lift the log physically, and listened to the advice of his smart young wife. Don't strain your old frail hands. They may break!" Ginny retorted back._

_And since then, there was some sort of undeclared competition between the couple about who was older._

Tears threatened to fall, but he controlled them. He knew they would not do any good. Getting control of his emotions, he slowly got up and reached the gates. It was probably the last time that he would see his home. He could not afford to come back. It was too dangerous. If something happened to him, no one will be able to bring his loved ones back. And, so many innocents had died, what had they dine to deserve this?

When he was out of the gate, he finally looked back, at the magnificent castle that he had come to call home. But the claim held no meaning when the home did not house his family.

He closed the heavy gates behind himself and began walking. His emotional moment was interrupted when he heard someone call his name. He turned, hopeful, that someone had survived, that he had a partner. But his hope was short-lived. It was just the centaur whose name was Bane. He had met him when he had in school.

"The stars predict a tough fight ahead for you human, be careful." And with the waring, the centaur turned and ran away.

_Why would a centaur wish well for me? Especially Bane? He hated my guts when I was in school!_ _And not just me, they hate all humans! _Despite his confusion, he nodded wordlessly and apparated. Because what else he could do?

He was in Godric's Hollow, at his parents' home.

After the war, Harry had decided to keep the hallows seperated forever. No one should ever come to know of the artifacts and fall prey to their lure. That was the thought behind the decision. The wand went back to Dumbledore's tomb, the stone had already been dropped in the field and the cloak was left with him.

But after a few years, he needed it less and less. James had also becone too mischivious, apparently taking after his granddad, and had already stolen the Marauder's map. The cloak was too important to fall in any immature hands (it was rather immature of Dumbledore to give it to him when he was just eleven, he had to admit), so, it was safely stored in the Potter's cottage in Godric's Hollow, protected using the strongest wards Harry knew.

And here he was, to take it once again.

* * *

"Tony is right. There is nothing we can do now that will bring them back, everything and everyone was doomed by our failure. We don't deserve to be called superheros. Superheros don't get beaten so easily. Thanos swatted us like flies.. The avengers have failed! And bitter as it is, it is the truth."

"Bruc-"

"Thanks Nat, you have helped me a lot and when I say that I am thankful to you, I cannot speak anything truer. But I cannot be a part of this team. I am going!"

And he stalked out of the room. Everything was crashing down and she could do nothing but watch as her home burned. So many had died already, and Tony and Bruce, two strongest people she knew, had given up all hope and Steve was about to get to the family was broken beyond repair. She hated Thanos in that moment more than ever.

Tony and Bruce were gone from the facility. Tony had obviously taken Pepper with him too. Both had gone without giving any details about where they were going.

The Danvers girl proved to be a nightmare. She wouldn't stop bragging about her powers and though she claimed, maybe rightfully so, that she had defeated worse entities than Thanos, she behaved too immaturely to allow her claims to be believable. She was ready to sprint off to face Thanos alone. _She's too arrogant to be an Avenger, _Natasha thought. Did she think that all of them, who were sitting here, defeated, were weak?

The girl did not even know where Thanos was! Hmm, for that matter, no one did. Where was he? But it was revealed soon.

"He said that once our mission was completed, we would go to our garden and enjoy rest of our lives in peace." Nebula said. It was admirable of her to do so. It was a respectful gesture that for us, she was even ready to betray her father.

"So, your father has a garden too in his backyard. Oooh! Curious, curious. The mad Titan likes gardens." The rocket racoon snarked, lightening the heavy atmosphere as everyone laughed.

Soon, everyone was loaded up in _rocket's_ rocket and we had departed to go to Thanos' _garden._

What we saw shocked us. After wrecking havoc in our lives and wiping out half of the universe's population, the Titan was busy cooking a stew using some unknown vegetables.

As we entered the little cottage, in which Thanos was apparently living, Danvers pinned the titan to the ground. _Well, her boasting is for a good reason, _the Black Widow mused. It was not easy for everyone to physically overpower Thanos.

"Where are the stones? Where are they?" Marvel growled.

"They are not here. And they are not with me."

"You are lying!"

"I am not," he sounded amused, as though it was not possible for him to lie, "I destroyed them from their own power after my goal was reached. The world will become a better place now that half of its population is gone. I have eased the burden on the universe."

"Lies! You are lying!"

"No, my father might be cruel but he is not untruthsworthy." Nebula murmurd from a corner. She looked as though she was scared what everyone will think about her.

But before anyone could react, Thor had moved forward from his initial position near the door and swung the stormbreaker at Thanos's hear, seperating his head from his body.

And the mad Titan was no more.

* * *

Memories filled his head. Of a time which he did not remember. Those memories were not so pleasent. The horcrux was gone from his head, but those memories somehow remained, alongwith his ability to speak Parseltongue. His father's limp body, his mother's pleadings and his own sharp cries. This cottage held so many bad memories that Harry felt that it was wise to quickly get hold of the cloak and get the hell out.

The cloak was hidden in plain side. He had just draped the cloak on a dining chair. He quickly cancelled the formidable wards he had put around the chair and grabbed the cloak. A wave of nostalgia washed over him. Some of the best memories of his life were under this cloak. Sneaking off to the kichen with Ron, pranking Malfoy, scaring Hermione and obviously, the memories of his adventures.

He had the urge to see the room where his fate was seaked. And he walked up the stairs and into the spacious nursery. A large part of the ceiling was blown off and the floor was burned at places but no other additional damage had happened. The ministry has ensured that the place remained in the exact same condition as it was after the attack.

He took the cloak and draped it over his shoulders. He had to do it. Maybe it was just a myth. The Master of Death. But he had to try. Any remote chance that he could bring his people back was welcome. He then took out the stone and placed it at the centre of his left palm and in his right, he held the Wand of Destiny. Nothing. Nothing happened for sometime. But what happened after that was the most shocking thing in his life.

The Invisibility Cloak merged into his body, disappearing copletely and making his body visible again and the Stone went and got embedded in his hand. The wand remained in his hands but it felt like he had lost some sort of connection. His original wand. The Death Stick had merged his original wand in itself.


	4. Realising the extent of Tragedy

**A/N- Sorry for the late update guys. It had been quite ill for a few days but am as fit as a horse now. This chapter contains POVs of three characters. It may be an inconvinience but I am trying to add as many perspectives as possible to the story. And again, a million thanks for you reviews. They are prime motivation for me to keep writing. **

**If you find any mistakes or do no like any part, please fo not hesitate to PM me or write your queries in the reviews. Read the third chapter of the story and enjoy. Please review.**

* * *

Realization dawned on him. He was now the Master of Death. The strange scenario after he weilded the Hallows together for the first time (he had the cloak, the wand and the stone in his possesion together before, but had never held them together) clearly indicated that the Tale of Three Brothers was true after all. As true as a story in a children's bedtime tales book can be. But really, it didn't matter if the tale was distorted. It must have been a long time ago when these Hallows were obtained/created by the three brothers and such gigantic gap in time held impossible potential to distort the story. Time has a nasty habit of doing that. To everthing. From tales and stories to goods, artifacts and histories and even beings.

It was a nostalgic moment for Harry to remember how he and Hermione had always argued about the story's authencity but never reached to an agreement. Ron had always denied to participate in their verbal spar, citing that it too much mental effort [but he knew his best friend. He did not want to take sides. And academic topics never really attracted Ron (neither him, but the Hallows were mysterious enough to gain his interest as he had a habit of unnecessarily delving into mysteries)].

His theory was very similar to that of Dumbledore's. The brothers were very powerful dark wizards who created the artifacts in hope to conquer death but they failed to do so because they never tried to unite their inventions. Hermione regarded the story completely false and often expressed her opinion boldly (she had a hibit of doing that. And sometimes, it offended people). She believed that the Hallows were just overhyped and became famous only because someone decided to add it to Tales of Beedle the Bard, disregarding the fact that all stories held some creadability.

He finally got his answer. The Hallows were genuine. But the irony of the situation was that he had no one to share this information with. No Hermione for being smug. No Ron, who would selflessly motivate him (or say that he was becoming another Hermione). He was completely alone to test the extent of his powers as the Master of Death. He had always had a strong support system among his friends and it was instrumental in his victories against the dark, without Ron and Hermione, he would have died in first year. Thus, losing them was thus very devastating.

He quickly got out of the cottage. Careful not to trip over the fallen items on the nursery ground, when his eyes fell on a picture frame. The image was not moving but it was not necessary. It was him with his mother and father. On his first birthday, most probably. How lonely it must have been for them, having to celebrate his birthday without any friends and family. He picked up the frame, shrunk it and kept it in a robe pocket.

Outside the cottage, he moved quickly towards the graveyard where his parents were buried. He would go to muggle London after that. He _needed _some human contact otherwise he would go mad. Honestly, however much someone yearns some peace and quiet, a world without humans was a living nightmare.

He moved through the local market of the muggle cum wizarding village, and strangely, it looked quite deserted, with only a few little shops open here and there. And it was the early evening time, when people usually got out of their homes to enjoy the light wind and fair-like enviornment in tge village. Was there something wrong with the muggle world as well? No, there can't be. It must have been a coordinated attack against the Wizarding community. Otherwise, why would all the wizards disappear together?

Harry refused to be bothered by the stares the people were sending towards him and reached the graveyard gates quickly. He slowly opened them and moved towards his parents' graves. While doing so, he noticed something. Something that he hadn't really bothered to acknowledge ever before. At the very center of the yard, there was the grave of Ignotus Peverell, tge master of the Invisibility Cloak.

Years ago, when he had come to this place with Hermione, he had not bothered to acknowlege such a legendry man. He was just too focused on searching the horcruxes and it was the first time he had visited his parents' graves, so it was quite normal for him to focus just on them (Atleast he thought so). But now he felt like he owed him and automatically bowed his head, conjuring flowers and laying them on the beautiful grave. God knows after how many centuries someone had acknowledged it. He also quickly cleaned tge grave and mended a few broken parts of the headstone.

Moving on, he reached his parents' graves. He had lost them too early to really remember anything about them, much less miss them. But his yearning for them had remained as strong as ever, even after becoming an adult. He opened his heart there. Told them all his woes and worries. Chronicled all his moments of happiness and regret. Everything.

"Mom, Dad. I wish I could meet you. But it seems, its impossible. Fate keeps saving me, even when I am ready to give up. And I might have made meeting you more impossible than ever today. This writing on your gravestpne seems so well in sync with my own situation 'the last enemy to be defeated is death' and I have did just that. Well, I really don't know if I was successful. But successful doesn't seem like the correct word. It was never really my motive. To become immortal I mean. I just wanted to bring them all back. I just wanted the power to do so.

I lost everyone. But I know you are watching over me. It is the only thing that keeps me going. You gave up so much for me. When you could have lived, Voldemort had offered you after all. So how can I just give up on it? Wouldn't it be super disrespectful. Hermione would whack my head if I do something like that. I wish you are all together. Having fun. That you all are happy. Say hello to everyone for me and tell them that I miss this."

He countinued, blushing, "And tell Ginny that I love her and she would always have my heart. Well, who tells their parents to pass on such a message! I'm sorry. Oh! Sorry, I am...well, blabbering. I have to go. Miss you. Goodbye!"

* * *

He could see the Sun seeting in the horizon and it was not just the Sun that was setting, the God of Thunder was doing so too. There was a time when the tales of the bravery and valor of the Prince of Asgrad used to be children's favourite bedtime stories. Not only the people of his own kingdom, but nearly everyone in the nine realms respected and feared him. But the situation was vastly different. Children no longer liked Thor, people thought of him as some lightweight and his enemies estimated his bravery to be equal to that of a rat.

And he did too. What had he done in the past year? Saved Asgard, Saved his mother? Or Father? Or Brother? Or his people and comarades? He had done nothing. He had sat idle while the realm under his protection, Midgard, burned. Surtur consumed Asgard and his people. Loki was killed by _him._ And he could save none of them.

Honestly, he did not deserve to be called a God. Gods saved others, helped them when they wanted or needed it. Not run around trying to get away from their own guilts. But he could not help it. All his losses and failures had rendered him devastated and with no energy left to live.

Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately so, he was still the King of Asgard. Without the duty, he was sure he would not be able to live. And it was his moral duty to take care of his remaining subjects. Provide them a new home. Even if he could not replicate the grandeur of the palace or the calming, the soothing aura of homeland. He could at least provide them a comforting compensation for the losses they had suffered due to his fatal failures.

This was the only thing that provided him solace. His people. It felt good. Worrying about them. It was a wonderful feeling which connected him to his father and mother. He wanted to nuture his people just like his parents had. They deserved that, that is, the people and his deceased parents. And him. Hadn't he lost everything too. Perhaps more than anyone else.

* * *

Muggle London looked like never before. Never had he seen the grand megacity in such a _dead_ state. Everything was so quite. No hawkers, vendors, no sound of horns and sirens. Nothing. Every few minutes, a couple of cars would pass by and leave behind themselves a sense of loneliness among the scarce amount of people around him. They knew why the roads were not busy as always. Why people were holed up inside their homes. Who would wish to come out when their very lives were destroyed in a heartbeat. Half of the city's population was gone, making the city _feel _empty. And he too knew now. There could be nothing else which would render the muggle world so helpless, than the loss of a large number of lives.

What was it that had killed so many people? Wizards and Muggles alike were killed. It didn't seem like a war which had targeted the Wizarding community specifically. And though all the wizards except him had been killed, it could have been die to the small wizarding population, he reckoned. He suspected that something bigger than anything he could fathom was involved here.

Being the most familiar with Charing Cross Road, he had apparated there to avoid any accidents. The Leaky Cauldron looked just the same as it always did. A dingy, smelly pub, which would have stood out between the large beautiful stores surrounding it if it was visible to muggles.

He kept staring at the pub for a long time and decided to enter it. He had stared for about ten minutes and no one had used a horn to alert him. Had it been sometime ago, he would have been flattened by the huge cars running on the busy road. The pub was in mess. Spiders had covered the tables in webs and the food kept on the tables was rotten, obviously giving off an extremely unpleasent smell, more so than the pub usually did. With a quick cleaning spell, he moved on.

A wave of nostalgia hit him when he walked upstairs. The memories from the summer before third year were haunting him. He had spent so many joyous moments in these corridors. At the time he had no worries except that he had upset the Dursleys and may not have a place to live (it was not home) anymore. And even that had not upset him much. He still remembered his relief when Fudge had told him that he would not be punished for doing magic outside Hogwarts. Fudge. He would even miss the babbling, bumbling man who had made his life hell in his fifth year. He had provided ample amount of jokes for them to laugh due to his idiocy after all.

The day Ron and Hermione alongwith the Weasley family had arrived to keep him company had been one of the happiest moments of his life. That day, he finally knew that he mattered to someone. He would repay them for their love.

And here he was, once again, walking through the hallway and it felt as if it was just a day ago that he had been playing exploding snap with Ron here. Well, his trip was not very fruitful in his mission to avenge his people but it motivated him more. Now, the memories did not evoke a sore ache in his heart but an adrenaline rush which motivated him to keep going with his mission and succeed in avenging the lives of his loved ones.

* * *

Bruce and Tony were already gone. There was no sign of Thor returning as well. The death of his family and friends and the burden of guilt after their empty victory must have been too har for him to bear. As they had returned from the space, the team had broken. Rhodey was off for a trip to analyse a situation around the world, Danvers apparently had bigger things to handle, Nebula and Rocket were off moaning their family just like many others. And Steve. She really admired his spirits and his ability to keep his mind in a diificult situation but all his positive shit had worn her down. He had decided that right niw, the world needed consolation more than a new war to bring people back. He wanted to help people move on and considered it the most logical solution (So did she. But the realisation of what she had lost and how impossible it was to regain it did not allow here to give up and move on).

That day was a nightmare. She was happy at first. And completely heartbroken by the end of the day. Clint had come to the the headquarters and a wave of complete relief had washed over here when she was assured that her best friend had not been snapped away like many others. But the relief was short-lived. Clint's devastated expression was enough to tell her. He had lost his family. And her family. Laura, Lila, the boys, they were gone. And it seemed, for Clint, so was the will to live.

For a moment, the old courageous, battle hardened Clint shined through as he asked in a bold was, "What happened?" The growl would have intimidated anyone else, such was the anger and hatred in his voice which clearly indicated that he would not allow the murderer of his family to live if he found out who it was. Natasha had seen him angry many times but never like this.

"He snapped his fingers and everything was gone." And she fell quiet as she ended the haunting tale of their defeat. It dawned on her that she was not the only one to endure loss, nor were the Avengers the only ones. Countless more families must have been broken die to that monster.

Clint took a deep breath and started walking away from her and out of the door. She knew he would not tell her but nonetheless, she asked, "Where are you going?" And the only reply she got was one word (confused the hell out of her)- "Work." She did not understand the meaning till a few months later.


End file.
